When do I add the drone comb Delia?

[Blackcavebees]

I put protein supplements on all 5 hives in the garden last week. First peek under the crownboard this season, and all have 4 frames of bees. Still too cold (and wet) to start pulling out frames for inspection but all seem to have enough stores and little "insurance" tubs of fondant aren't getting much action. Very thankful for the mass amounts of ivy that was coming in right through October.

Question is about rearing drones. I wanted to put a frame with fishing wire in 2 of the hives with young queens to let them draw some drone comb out in preparation for queen rearing later on. How soon is too early? If the weather is warm enough for a quick inspection in a couple of weeks would that be too soon?

Thanks, Stephen

[Jon]

I would wait until early April and only put the frames into colonies which are reasonably strong, at least 6 or 7 frames at that stage.
I doubt if many colonies have much brood yet.

[busybeephilip]

Dear Blackcavebees

It takes 50 days for the rearing of sexually mature drones from when the egg is laid. So If you put frames in at the start of April and assuming that they are fully laid up then you wont have mature drones until at least mid May

Phil

[Rosie]

The snag is Phil that if you put a foundationless frame in too early they will draw worker comb in it. I like to put 3 such frames in and position them at different distances from the centre of the nest. They always seem to reach one of them just at the right time to draw drone brood in it. The other 2 will not be wasted as they will have mostly worker cells in them but the cell sizes will vary to suit their fancy.

[Pete L]

Question is about rearing drones. I wanted to put a frame with fishing wire in 2 of the hives with young queens to let them draw some drone comb out in preparation for queen rearing later on. How soon is too early? If the weather is warm enough for a quick inspection in a couple of weeks would that be too soon?
Thanks, Stephen

Hi Stephen
as above, the beginning of April as long as the colonies are strong, and starting new combs from scratch. Down south i put drawn drone combs into the drone providers in mid March, weather and strength of colonies permitting (some are even put into potential drone providers the previous autumn before winter feeding) and many already have small patches of drone brood by this time, i use two full size drone combs in each standard national deep, originally drawn on drone foundation. Drones will be sexually mature to mate around 40/41 days after the eggs are layed, so down here that is often from the last week in April onwards.

[busybeephilip]

Yes, the key is to have the colony strong and place a drawn drone frame at the edge or back of the box. Adding extra insulation and watery syrup gets the bees into the mood for drone rearing. I'll be putting my frames into selected colonies on St Paddy's day then drown my shamrock.

[Jon]

I have about 50 drone combs safely stored in the shed but I don't think I will be distributing them until April.
Won't stop me having a drink on the 17th March though!

[busybeephilip]

I'm all set for II and have strong hives ready to use. Also some nice dark bees to work with

[Blackcavebees]

Thanks for all the replies. I was locking up the sheds last night and lifted the lid of a paynes polynuc that sits by my workshop door and it was lovely to see a row of about 15-18 girls all lined up working the protein supplement. May the buildup begin!

[busybeephilip]

Paynes nuc boxes seem to be the real deal, the insulation effect will allow the bees to build up very rapidly if the queen is up to it. I'll have to invest in some of these when the next sale occurs

[prakel]

Paynes nuc boxes seem to be the real deal, the insulation effect will allow the bees to build up very rapidly if the queen is up to it. I'll have to invest in some of these when the next sale occurs

Might also be worth checking out the ones which Thornes are now stocking (don't appear to be on their website yet) but shown in the paper catalogue although I doubt they'll be able to match the Paynes sale prices which Jon and a few others have mentioned in the past.

[Blackcavebees]

I'd second that on price, Jon kindly took the orders then ordered by pallet, we ended up paying 22£ ea inc carriage to NI. Super job

[Jon]

Thorne have cedar brood box seconds flatpack at the conference this weekend for £15 each. Supers £12.

[busybeephilip]

Thats dirt cheap for brood boxes, fortunately I have a load of supers and brood boxes still in the flat from previous sales. Reports so far are suggesting close to 100% survival for bees this winter/spring so far. My own bees are showing lots of activity and are covering a lot more frames than this time last season where I lost 70%. This season will probably see me making up the new boxes for making splits and swarm control provided the weather does not turn nasty.

[crabbitdave]

Hi all as am always looking for good deal, I spotted on eBay fully built national hive and two supers with a six inch roof and floor and all the frames, it's says its English cedar of the highest quality and no seconds are used all £125 delivered as a carpenter I have no idea how they can produce this so cheaply.


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[prakel]

Might also be worth checking out the ones which Thornes are now stocking (don't appear to be on their website yet) but shown in the paper catalogue although I doubt they'll be able to match the Paynes sale prices which Jon and a few others have mentioned in the past.


Thorne have cedar brood box seconds flatpack at the conference this weekend for £15 each. Supers £12.

JUST incase anyone misses point which I was attempting to make, I should perhaps explain that I was referring to the fact that the poly nucs which Thornes are now selling have been bought in from another manufacturer whereas Paynes have an in-house ownership advantage similar to Thornes with their wooden hives which as Jon points out they sometiomes sell for very good discoumts.

[Little_John]

The thread seems to a strayed a little ...

Returning to drone comb - I noticed quite a few capped drone cells when on Sunday (thanks to it being a gloriously warm day) I was able to do a first full inpection on one of my weaker long hives. So - I'll probably be adding drone combs (to other hives) on Friday, when the forecast is for 17 degrees and sunny.

Whether what is happening 'darn sarf' could be used as a barometer as to what those further north might expect within the coming weeks - I'll leave up to you.

LJ

[Jon]

I am hoping to check a few for the first time this season tomorrow if we hit 14-15c as predicted.

[busybeephilip]

You need to have your bees starting to rear drones now to have enough for queen rearing at the beginning of May

[Jon]

No rush yet Phil. Count back from when your first virgins could be flying and mating, say 20th May which would be incredibly early for Belfast.
Last year my first queens mated were about 30th June.
Grafting to emergence 12 days. Earliest possible mating flight 7 days from emergence so back to 1st May for the first grafts introduced, and that is really optimistic as some years it is nearer the end of May when grafting starts. Count back 38 days from 1st May, 24 for the drone cycle plus 14 to be sexually mature brings you to about 24th March and today is the 12th.
First fortnight in April is plenty of time for drone comb to be introduced most years.

[busybeephilip]

I'm probably thinking more of my own programme where i intend to start grafting mid April. When the queens hatch I wont be letting the birds eat them but will need a good supply of the desired drones for the II - at least thats the plan. Got all my solutions, gas etc ready to go.